Pens unwatchable without Sid and Geno

Saturday

We’ve been consumed by the run-up to The Big Game That Could Lead To The Even Bigger Game, so you may have missed it.

Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins played the Devils in New Jersey.

Sidney Crosby (concussion) and Evgeni Malkin (undisclosed injury) were both missing from the Penguins’ lineup.

Since Malkin arrived in 2006, it was the first time both stars had been absent at the same time.

The game was as dreadful as it was instructive.

Star-less hockey is what a lot of people watch all season. There aren’t enough talents to go around, and some teams don’t really have any.

Pittsburgh fans have been spoiled. Since Mario Lemieux started in 1984, the Penguins have usually had at least one — and often two — of the league’s best players.

The Devils shut out the Penguins 2-0 and goalie Martin Brodeur barely broke a sweat against 23 shots on goal.

It was a chilling reminder of the Rico Fata era of Penguins hockey.

Count the number of days until Crosby and Malkin get back in the lineup.

——

If the NHL is counting on players to exercise restraint on dangerous hits, it’s dreaming.

Remember, the NHL is the league where teams aren’t required to specify injuries out of fear opponents will target the vulnerable area of a players’ body.

——

WTAE-TV should have some explaining to do.

The station hired Tom Bradley as Pitt’s head football coach on Jan. 5.

At 7:23 that evening, WTAE e-mailed a news alert headlined: “BRADLEY IS IT: Pitt To Name New Coach.”

The body of the message said, “Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley will be named the head football coach at the University of Pittsburgh, WTAE Channel 4 Action Sports' John Meyer has confirmed.”

Of course, the problem was that Pitt hadn’t hired anyone. The university made its choice on Jan. 10, hiring Todd Graham from Tulsa.

Meyer’s faux scoop, which was repeated many times on the air, was dead wrong.

To date, the station has not offered an explanation or apology for giving viewers incorrect information.

Anyone can get a story wrong. Things happen. But a credible outlet would own up to its mistake and try to win back the trust of viewers.

——

Despite Pitt’s announcement that Dave Wannstedt would remain with the university’s athletic department, he’s headed to the Buffalo Bills as an assistant coach.

Somehow you had the idea he wouldn’t be in the Pitt offices, helping to nail down a date for a 2012 cross country meet.